*Action Alert*

Some pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception and other birth control when a woman presents them with a lawful prescription from her doctor. They claim that filling the prescription is in conflict with their moral or religious beliefs. It is unconscionable that health care professionals, who have voluntarily taken on the responsibility of helping patients, would put their personal beliefs ahead of the health care needs of the patients they are there to serve. Birth control is basic health care for women and restricting access to it is not only an act of discrimination, but can lead to more unintended pregnancies. Learn more about the impact of unintended pregnancies on children and families.

• Consider these statistics:
  
  • 62 million women in the U.S. are currently in their childbearing years, age 15 to 44 on average.
  
  
  
  • Of the total number of U.S. women in their childbearing years, 43 million (or 7 out of every 10) are sexually active and do not wish to become pregnant.
  
  
  
  • One of the major barriers to universal contraceptive access is the high out-of-pocket cost to individual women whose health plans do not cover contraception. Retail costs for supplies alone can run approximately $360 per year for oral contraceptives, $180 per year for the Depo-Provera^®, $450 for the Norplant and $240 for an IUD. In addition, the bulk of the cost for some of the most effective methods must be paid up front.
  
  
  
  It only costs an employer approximately $1.43 per employee per month to add full contraception benefits to a health plan.
  • A woman who wants two children (the average in the U.S.) will have to use contraception for more than three decades of her life.
  
  
  
  • 95% of American women use contraception at some point during their reproductive years. More than 50% of contracepting women use prescription methods. Approximately 27% use oral contraceptive pills.
  
  
  Women of reproductive age currently spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, and much of this gender gap is due to reproductive health-related costs.



• Employer-Sponsored Insurance Plans
  
  The picture is improving as most employers now offer insurance plans with contraceptive coverage.
  
  A study released in 2004 indicates that contraceptive coverage in employer-purchased plans improved dramatically between 1993 and 2002. The proportion of typical plans covering the full range of reversible contraceptive methods tripled from 28% to 86%, and the proportion covering no method at all plummeted from 28% to 2%.
  
  It makes economic sense! Full contraceptive coverage in health plans is inexpensive, popular among health insurance consumers and effective against the cost of pregnancy-related absences.
  
  
  • Providing full contraceptive coverage in employment-based health care plans would cost employers, at most, only $21.40 per employee per year. For employers with plans that currently provide no contraceptive coverage, the average cost of adding it -- if employers contributed 80 percent of the cost -- would be $17.12 per year or $1.43 per month.
  
  
  
  • A nationwide poll indicated that 78% of privately insured adults support contraceptive coverage, even if it would increase their costs by five dollars a month�some 14 times the actual amount an employee would pay.
  
  
  
  • A recent study calculated that for an average employer, the total indirect cost of pregnancy-related absences per year per 1,000 covered female employees would be $542,000. It is estimated that the average cost to replace female employees who quit each year due to pregnancy is an additional $14,000 per employee.
  
  
  Health Insurers Benefit As Well
  
  The bottom line is that not covering contraception in employee health plans would cost employers 15-17% more in direct and indirect costs than providing such coverage.
  
  Studies show that health insurers can also save money by preventing unintended pregnancy.
  
  $10,000.... Average mother and infant cost for one pregnancy
  $450........... Average cost for first trimester abortion
  $300-$350... Average cost for one year supply of birth control pills
  



• Legislative Action
  
  As of February 2006, 23 states require insurers that cover prescription drugs in general to provide coverage of the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive drugs and devices; 12 of these states specifically require coverage of related outpatient services. Learn more about state laws and contraceptive coverage.



• Public Programs
  
  Federal support for family planning services derives principally from two sources: Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for poor Americans and Title X of the Public Health Service Act, the only federal program devoted solely to the provision of family planning services. If you think you might be eligible for one of these programs, please call 1-800-230-PLAN.
  
  SOURCES: Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood Federation of America